Getting Sloppy

It has been my experience that any traveller, upon nearing completion of his or her journey, has a tendency to get a bit careless. The natural cycle of things seems to be that one should be excited and cautious in the beginning, lonely and deflated in the middle, and delighted and sloppy towards the end.

Or maybe it's just me. The pattern described above certainly fits my recent travels, and it fits this bike tour particularly well. And as I cruise gaily along, with the salty Gulf breeze in my hair and Florida on the horizon, I can sense myself getting sloppy.

Two days ago, I refused to consult my map even though I had a slight suspicion that something was amiss. It ended up costing me 15 miles extra the next day to correct it. And did I care? Not much... it turned a 50 mile day into a 65 mile day. No big deal.

Then, this morning, I left my "Spot" GPS beacon at the campsite where I'd stayed. I've never forgotten it before, not once in three months! "Can you mail it to me in Florida?" I whined into the phone. "I'm already 20 miles away and I don't want to ride all the way back". The campground manager generously agreed.

And I forgot to put my Warmshowers host's address into Google maps BEFORE I got on the road today. If I had done so, I would have noticed that although her city reads "Fairhope, Alabama", she actually lives over 10 miles south of that town. Normally that kind of mileage variable isn't a problem, but on a day when I'd planned on going 80 miles and having just enough daylight to do it... well, the wonderful woman ended up coming to get me in her pickup in the dark. To my credit, I was almost there. And to her credit, she came to save me without even being asked and then treated me to some real fried Alabama seafood.

So even though my blunders thus far have turned out to be just fine, this carelessness makes me nervous. Though Florida is near, it's still a long road to Jacksonville. I've got to make sure I keep my head in the game, or else I've got no business being out here on a bike.

One thing that hasnt gotten sloppy is my actual cycling. (Except for... well, there's always exceptions, right?).With the highways I've been on lately, the drivers have inspired me to pay attention. Tiny or nonexistent shoulders, or nice wide ones that are sprinkled with bits of glass and sharp rusty objects. Sometimes rumble strips will sneak up on me out of nowhere, beginning in the middle of the shoulder and then ending just as abruptly, leaving me gripping the handlebars and gasping like I just survived an earthquake.

But these joys of the open highway aren't anything new. You can find them in any state. What you might not be able to find are backroads that are more quiet or more lovely than what the South has to offer. This past week of cycling along the ACA's Southern Tier Bicycle Route through Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama has been blissful, despite all my snide remarks about the quality of the roads.

It looks like I'm in for urban cycling from here to Jacksonville, though! Or at least from here to Panama City. This Gulf is so special, everyone wants to live here... and there sure is a lot of traffic.